How to make the ultimate sausage rolls

Puff pastry is best – but filling your sausage roll is a matter of great debate (Picture: Oli Jones)

Chloe Scott cooks tried and tested recipes to make the ultimate sausage rolls.

With the fashion for dude food in Britain, the sausage roll, once a humble picnic snack, has become a rather macho, meaty affair. The most chichi ones I’ve ever heard of were made by Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi, whose rolls bulged with suckling pig and foie gras and were served with a brown sauce. Not HP, mind you – this was a truffle jus with almond oil and balsamic vinegar.

That type of thing might be beyond home cooks but it proves sausage rolls can boast big flavours. At Barnyard (www.barnyard-london.com), the London restaurant set up by wunderkind Ollie Dabbous, chef Joseph Woodland has also produced some impressively fancy sausage rolls. Can a sausage roll really be a signature in a quality restaurant? Absolutely, he says.

Asked for tips (and a recipe), Woodland adds: ‘The key to a good sausage roll is the moistness, that it retains all the fat content as opposed to it leaking out. We achieve this by whipping the meat to emulsify the fat and the protein, and adding just enough breadcrumbs to combine without making the mix stodgy. It’s not rocket science, just a little TLC.’

In pastry terms, the consensus is that puff is best. But the filling is another matter, with a multitude of opinions. I try Delia’s pork rolls with sausage meat, sage and onion but, on testing, quickly realise that while they’re appealingly simple and easy to make, there are some far superior meat options flavour-wise.

One thing the experts seem to agree on is that you need meltingly good fat. Woodland includes 200g pork belly and 100g smoked streaky bacon, both minced. Rose Prince in the Telegraph’s Baking Club series includes 1kg pork mince – a mix of pork belly and lean meat and four rashers of dry-cured bacon, finely diced. Mrs Beeton recommends pork and beef suet but the bacony nuances are sadly missing. I conclude that pork belly with fatty bacon is the best way forward for this recipe.

Breadcrumbs can be another disputed ingredient. On testing, those with fewer breadcrumbs (just 2tbsp or so) are best because the flavours aren’t as muted and the rolls seem lighter. Include too much and the result is stodgy.

Woodland’s special ingredients add a little mystery alongside the meat and breadcrumbs. They’re mace, nutmeg, Dijon mustard, Braeburn apple and Worcester sauce. The rolls are dark brown and billowing with a sticky, porky and sweet interior that’s moreish. The apple and pork are great together and definitely get my vote.

I’m fast becoming a fan of Anna Hansen and her Modern Pantry book (Ebury Press). Her recipe outshines most of the others because it uses onion, thyme, sweet smoked paprika and black pepper. Her filling is 50g pork back fat, 300g pork shoulder and 300g belly, minced. Once baked, they impart an elegant smoky and sweet spiciness. This, with a little bacon and a judicious amount of Woodland’s inspired choice of apple, is very good indeed.

In contrast, as part of my mission, I make The Ginger Pig’s sausage roll from Ginger Pig Meat Book (Mitchell Beazley). It uses minced pork, pork fat and fresh breadcrumbs, mixed with dried herbs, chopped sage and seasoning. The meaty flavours are certainly enhanced but I find it a little plain.

One final twist to note comes from Rose Prince. Alongside diced dry-cured bacon and ciabatta breadcrumbs, she includes sweet sherry, suggesting Madeira. I try a splash of some very delicious Tio Pepe Pedro Ximenez. Yes! It’s a winner with the smoked paprika and appley nuances. This picnicking nibble is a punchy little number.

METHODStep 1 On medium heat, cook the onion in a little oil in a frying pan until caramelised. Place it in a large bowl.

Step 2 Next, follow Barnyard’s technique of whipping all the mince together in the mixer to emulsify the fat and protein. Mix the minced meat with the cooked onions, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, herbs and all the other filling ingredients.

Step 3 Fry a little mix and cook through to check the seasoning. As required, add more salt, paprika or any seasoning you wish from the list – but don’t go overboard.

Step 4 On a floured surface, roll out the pastry into two rectangular sheets, approx 40cm by 15cm so they’re about 5mm thick.

Step 5 Divide the raw meat mix into two and shape into long logs. Place each one just off-centre of each pastry sheet, length-wise. Roll both sheets over and press them down with a fork to seal. You can freeze them uncooked at this point.

Step 6 If you’re cooking them now, brush the outside with the beaten egg. Lay them on a greased baking tray on baking parchment. Bake at 180C until deep golden and cooked – about 35min. Leave to cool for at least 10min before serving.